Cardio while bulking

[Orange222]

I was wondering if it is ok to do two days of cardio a week while bulking, i put on muscle rather easily and i dont have any problems gaining weight. Any help would be appreiciated thanks.

[B.A.]

Originally Posted by Orange222

I was wondering if it is ok to do two days of cardio a week while bulking, i put on muscle rather easily and i dont have any problems gaining weight. Any help would be appreiciated thanks.

Absolutely! Build yourself a strong healthy heart and pair of lungs, aswell as muscles.

- B.A.

[Stafford]

I would recommend doing a couple of days cardio, if nothing else you will be fitter for it. Just be careful you dont over do the cardio and use the energy for cardio instead of building muscle.

I would suggest either HIT program not longer than 15 mins per session or a very low intensity, walking for 40 mins. But remember you wont want to raise you heart rate to much if you are doing cardio for 40 mins, especially while bulking.

With the gaining weight comment, bulking is not about gaining weight. Bulking is about building quality muscle and increasing muscle size, gaining weight is a biproduct of bulking and then you will have to cut away any excess BF to reveal the increase in muscle.

[Orange222]

thanks for the advice but as to stafford's comment about bulking and gaining weight, for someone to increase muscle mass substantially you need to gain weight thats all i meant by that. If your not gaining weight you are not increasing a great ammount of body mass which means your not getting that much bigger

[bball4all]

Originally Posted by Orange222

thanks for the advice but as to stafford's comment about bulking and gaining weight, for someone to increase muscle mass substantially you need to gain weight thats all i meant by that. If your not gaining weight you are not increasing a great ammount of body mass which means your not getting that much bigger

what did you just say?

[Alaric]

Basically you need bulking will help you gain weight, but how you bulk will determine whether the weight you gain is fat or muscle. A clean bulk will give you more LBM, and a little bit of extra bf probably, but not much.

If you're concerned with just gaining weight, you gotta decide what you wanna gain is fat (easy bulk), or muscle mass (a harder cleaner bulk).

[Bvlgari]

I have this same question in a more recent thread. Could anyone help recommend a program for me that would burn fat to a serious degree?

I've been weight training for year. Am pretty muscular. I would like to get fit, but right now my main priority is aesthetics, especially in regards to my abs. I know that you can't spot reduce, so I'm prepared to go all the way. My target is a bf of 5% or less.

That's why some advice would be highly appreciated.

Matt

[Firehawk]

Do the 20 min HIIT training. Its more geared toward fat loss for bodybuilders. It keeps your body from sacrificing muscle. And it is only 20 minutes long.

You should DEFINITELY do cardio. When i first started seriously working out about 14 weeks ago now, I could barely breathe after doing squats, or after doing back exercises. I would get so winded during my weightlifting routines. NOw, I can put more intensity into my weightlifting because my heart and circulatory system can handle it much easier. It definitely is amazing how fast your body can adapt.

My circulatory system and cardiovascular system caught up in a matter of just a couple of weeks. Id say about after week 4 FOR SURE, i didnt have any more trouble from my cardiovascular system while weightlifting.

Just dont do the cardio on the same day as your weightlifting if you can help it.

[Mr VW]

Firehawk explain this 20 min HIIT training to me it sounds interesting.

[Jackal]

Basically its a 4-5 min warm-up, followed by intervals of different intensity. So after the warm up, you sprint/run/whatever at 95%(just throwing a number out) intensity for 30 seconds, then go back to your warm-up intensity for 15 seconds and so on, back and fourth until you end with another 5 min cool down(adding up to 20min). The 30 and 15 seconds are just what i used for an example, they can be whatever you like. I do 40 high 20 low or 20 high 10 low if anyone cares

[Firehawk]

Heres my 20 minute routine...

First 2 minutes - Warmup at 50% of max intensity
3rd minute - 60% intensity
4th minute - 70% intensity
5th minute - 80% intensity
6th minute - 90% intensity

7th minute - 60% intensity
8th minute - 70% intensity
9th minute - 80% intensity
10th minute - 90% intensity

11th minute - 60% intensity
12th minute - 70% intensity
13th minute - 80% intensity
14th minute - 90% intensity

15th minute - 60% intensity
16th minute - 70% intensity
17th minute - 80% intensity
18th minute - 90% intensity
19th minute - 100% intensity
20th minute - 50% cool down intensity

Now, I ride a stationary bike for this, and my bike has resistance levels that i can increase , or i can watch the LCD and it shows my MPH (speed) that im pedalling. Sometimes i increase both speed and resistance, or just one of them.

You can do this on any kind of cardio you want. Even a walk. You can walk fast and then walk up a hill or something for the more intense parts. Its very effective. Im seeing great results.

This also forces your heart to recover while still under stress, which is very good. The best way would probably be to alternate or change it up every now and then. Do the HIIT cardio for a week, then the next do the 45 min constant intensity cardio, or something liek that. I just like the fact that i can be done in 20 mins and still get a very good cardio workout, because i HATE cardio.